The Asian Development Bank has kept its 2021 growth forecast for China’s economy at 8.1%. This was announced in its September update of its Asia Development Outlook 2021, originally published in April. Growth in developing Asia this year is now expected at 7.1%, down from 7.3% previously.
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China will support developing countries’ green and low-carbon energy ambitions, and stop building more coal-fired power plants overseas, president Xi Jinping said in a video address at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
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The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are working on guidelines for the disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related information, onshore newspaper Yicai reported. The bourses are expected to have requirements on when and in what format the disclosures are made, as well as what information will be under mandatory disclosure and what will be recommended, Yicai added.
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China Securities Index Co and the Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange will release the CSI SEEE Carbon Neutral Index on October 21. The index will be made up of 100 constituent stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen. These will either be companies from low carbon industries such as clean energy, or those from carbon intensive sectors but with a high carbon reduction potential.
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China has spent Rmb2.44tr ($377bn) in research and development in 2020, a new record, according to a report published jointly by the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) this week.
The annual growth in R&D expenses was 10.2% last year, 2.3 percentage points slower than in 2019. Of the total amount, corporations accounted for Rmb1.87tr.
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Seven Chinese cities have been officially classified as mega cities, after recording a population of over 10m each in the latest national census, the NBS announced this week. They are Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Tianjin. There are 14 super-large cities — those with a population between 5m and 10m — including Wuhan, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Qingdao.
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The MoF has issued Rmb8bn of government bonds in Hong Kong. A Rmb5bn two year bond was sold at 2.41%, and a Rmb2bn five year at 2.5%. The tranches were 3.1 and 3.3 times covered, respectively. There was also a Rmb1bn tap of an existing 4.15% note, sold at 112.87, the yield equivalent of 2.6989%.
The MoF is expected to raise another Rmb6bn in Hong Kong on October 20.
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The China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone wants its total trade value to reach Rmb400bn by 2025, according to a five-year plan published this week. It also plans to implement the country’s shortest foreign investment negative list, and “substantially” ease access for foreign capital in the services and manufacturing industries.
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Luckin Coffee said on Tuesday that it plans to pay $187.5m to settle a class action filed by investors who bought its US-listed stock between May 2019 and July 2020.
The settlement “will resolve a significant contingent liability and enable Luckin Coffee to move forward with a greater focus on our operations and the execution of our strategic plan”, said the company’s chairman and chief executive Guo Jinyi.
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Ant Group’s flagship consumer loan product Huabei will share consumer credit data with the People’s Bank of China, the company said on Wednesday. Huabei will submit its users’ credit information, upon their authorisation, to the central bank’s credit reporting system every month.